Customer Gallery

It's time to show off some of the amazing creations by designers who use my beads in their work. I love seeing your inspired creations. Please share them with me! You might just end up featured on my blog. Let's see what these talented ladies have been up to lately.

Lorelei Eurto

First is a beautiful autumnal hued creation packed full of art beads designed by Lorelei Eurto. She paired up one of my Bonbon Flower beads with my Mum Connector. I love the colors and textures of this bracelet.

Check out Lorelei blog here for lots of beautiful jewelry and she has an upcoming webinar at selling at craft shows you might want to check out!

Ellen Lambrix

Ellen Lambrix shared this gorgeous necklace on my Facebook page. She has my Meadowlark pendant handing under a Vintaj brass branch and a ceramic bird. Love the pop of yellow that has the bird and flowers signing to each other.

 Valerie Mathews

This lovely pendant is from Valerie Mathews of Just Imagine Jewelry. I'm smitten with the fall-ish feel of this necklace. Valerie paired up my Autumn Whisper Feather Pendant with a bird from Kylie Perry and a sweet little wire nest. Valerie is a talented designer, be sure to stop by her shop.

Kaushambi Shah

My friend Kaushambi knows how to rock a Humblebead. Her playful owl necklace is sporting one of my Birch log beads. It's a fantasitic design with a Kylie Perry owl and tiny leaf chain.

I never would have thought to pair up my disk beads like this with a house bead - it works so perfectly!  Love the chunky peanut seed bead element that balances the art beads.

This necklace pairs up my little Fanastic Mr. Fox bead with Czech glass and a few of my disk beads. What a great color palette with the black accents, it remembers me of folk art designs.  Visit Kaushambi's Etsy shop, Ornament Lounge to see her art bead jewelry.

Rebecca Anderson

The clever Rebecca Anderson created these adorable earrings with Humblebeads Matchstick Charms and her tiny beaded beads. I could just eat them up they are so precious!

Same design, different color - it's a smart way to work if you sell your jewelry! Stop by Rebecca's blog SongBeads to see more of her work.

 Malin de Koning

 

Malin created this asymetrical pair of earrings, love how subtle the differences are - just enough to make them interesting! The purple disk beads are Humblebeads. 

 

Malin really excels at creating asymetrical jewelry. I love this bracelet and it's vivid pop of color that plays off the muted hues. Malin has three art beads as the focal and one of them is a Humblebead disk. Check out Malin's blog to see her designs.

Stephanie LaRosa

This design by Stephanie was featured in Stringing magazine last year, so I may have featured it before but it's worth a second look! Stephanie used accents in all the colors of the Autumn Whisper Feather and mixed it with silver toned chanrms. The purple suede looks like it was made to go with my bead.

Doesn't this piece make you want to go for a woodland walk on a sun-drenched trail? I can not tell you how much I love the yellow paired up with my Falling Leaves Cuff. I would have never thought of that color combo and I have to say it's perfect! I like the Czech glass between each large bead, I bet this is a fun bracelet to wear.

Stephanie paired up big chunky stones and glass with the delicate Tree House bead. Great contrast of shapes and colors. Stephanie is a very prolific jewelry designer, visit her Etsy shop LeClair Rose Designs to see her work.

Are you suddenly feeling like you need more Humblebeads? Today is the last day of my sale.

Humblebeads.com

Humblebeads.etsy.com

Calling All Bead Nuts!

If you are nuts for art beads it's time to squirrel away a few new Humblebeads! 

We are having a moving sale this week. Use code MOVINGSALE for 25% off your orders until Friday at midnight.

http://www.humblebeads.etsy.com

http://www.humblebeads.com

This is our lovely new home - the whole bottom level will be my studio. I'm beyond excited! It's on the outskirts of our sleepy little town near the river and woodland trails. We are almost packed and will be working through the move. I'm looking forward to feathering our new nest!

Featured Designer: Martha Thomas

I love seeing what my customers make with their Humblebeads! Please don't let your art beads stay hidden away in boxes, pull those treasures out and make something to wear or to give as a gift.  

Art beads are happiest in fresh air being admired by all!

I thoroughly enjoy seeing jewelry show up in my Facebook feed that feature my beads! I'm always thrilled at how clever designers are and love seeing all the different ways my beads are used. If you share something on Facebook make sure you tag me either as Heather Powers or Humblebeads. Or share your creations directly on my Facebook page. 

Martha Thomas of Martha's Ruby Acorn is one such designer who brightens my day every time I see one of her jewelry creations sporting a Humblebead! So much so, that I just had to share some of my favorites with you.  Enjoy the eye candy! 

A bright and sunny Van Gogh Sunflower Long bead is paired up with lampwork glass and lush silk ribbon.

 

Humblebeads Bittersweet disk beads are paired with pearls. I love the little touches here like the bead caps on the bottom of the pearls and the pieces of wire curled into tendrils.

One of my favorite pieces from Martha pairs up my Peacock bracelet cuff with a few peacock Humblebeads disks and complemented by a rustic bit of silk ribbon for a very bohemian effect.

Martha is really strutting her stuff with the peacock theme - I love it! Here the peacock pendant is paired with lampwork beads, peanut seed beads and accents of Czech glass. Isn't using the waxed linen a great way to showcase those lampwork beads.

This necklace exudes happiness! The Humblebeads Rainbow Butterfly is set among Czech glass flowers and lampwork spacers in this colorful creation. Notice the colorway on of the peanut seed beads? I love that little touch!

This pair of earrings really caught my attention. What a great way to make tiny charms get noticed! Great mix of materials with the leather, waxed linen and metal findings. 

 Martha used a few beads from one of my Blooms & Birds sets to create this fun bracelet. Very clever asymentrical design here using the bead color to unite the three larger elements and even though they are very different they have have the same visual weight which makes this bracelet a very pleasing design.

H: Martha how long have you been making jewelry and what's the story behind your business name?

M: I've been making jewelry for about eight and a half years now. I never tire of playing with textures and colors. The name for my shop came about like this . . . I love the simplicity of acorns, as well as the saying: inside every acorn is an entire forest. To round out the name I included my birthstone: ruby. And voila! Ruby Acorn was born!

 You can find Martha's shop at Martha's Ruby Acorn on Etsy.

Thank you Martha for sharing your creations with us!

Scholarship Winners

First, thank you to everyone who wrote in and shared your story with me. It's brave to throw your hat in for a scholarship like this and I wish I could give one to everyone who entered.

But I did the best I could and decided to offer three full scholarship for my Polymer Clay Design Bootcamp instead of just one.

All the entries were placed in a bowl and Jess drew out three random winners.  Here they are:

Mallory Hoffman

Lottie Middleton

Jennifer Trujillo 

Congratulations!

For those who didn't win, I could feel from your emails that you are ready to start creating more and was hoping this was going to be a push to get you going.  And I think it should be, even if you didn't win. I think those who entered realize they would really love to learn to make beads or improve their skills. Beadmaking is crazy fun, who wouldn't want to do it! 

There is no shortage of tutorials and inspiration online, so head to Pinterest, YouTube or google Polymer Clay Bead Cane Tutorials and grab your clay - make some time for yourself and explore one new cane a week, just like it's a real class. Or find a polymer clay book at your library and go through a few of the projects for your 'class'. Have fun and get creative!

Scholarships - Giving and Getting

Huge news - I'm giving away one scholarship to my online Polymer Clay Cane Design Bootcamp!

I will accept entries today and tomorrow only. The drawing will be Wednesday morning.

Rules to Enter:

1. You must have a finanical need. You don't need to tell me your story or prove it, this is Scouts honor kind of stuff - you know your situation. You also don't need to be in poverty to qualify. You might be a mom on a limited budget, someone retired or maybe a recent big expense is keeping you from investing in your creative pursuits.

2. You are willing to follow along with the class and do the assignments with the group each week. Even though the class comes with lifetime access, I'd like the winner of the scholarship to be someone who wants to do this really bad, right now. Because I know how that feels!

3. You have the supplies or means to get them before class starts. You can see the supply list here. For the first week you'll need clay in Navy blue, white and antique gold.  

4. To enter send an email to humblebeads@gmail.com with the subject Scholarship. Hurry!!! 

 

And now let's dish on another scholarship!

I'm very thankful for my business and it is the main income for our family. With our upcoming move, there is a something I really, really want but it's just not in our budget at this time. (See, I do get it!)

You may or may not know that one of my dreams is to illustrate children's books and products for the gift, paper and decor markets. You know, fun things like journal covers, holiday cards, fabric, etc. You can see my portfolio here.

There is an art class taught online by one of the top agents in this field, this is a dream art class.  So I'm asking those who I have inspired over the years to consider giving me the gift of inspiration and helping me take this class.


I have a scholarship campaign to help me reach my goal! Every donation adds up and I'm at 25% right now. Click here for more details.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Humblebeads In Action

Finally got my jewelry making mojo back after Bead Fest, I found time this weekend to make a few pieces with new Humblebeads and beads that I picked up at the show.

The iris bracelet above pairs up my new beads with a new instant favorite - White Clover Kiln! Mary makes beautiful round ceramic beads in colors that look like we sat down and made beads together. Humblebeads and White Clover Kiln - they were made for each other! The bracelet is knotted on metallic colored leather cord. 

  Iris Beads

I painted these new leaves to look like weathered patina. I paired them up with a faceted bead from Firefly Designs, a raven from Diane Hawkey and a round bead from White Clover Kiln. This stacked totem pendant was also created by knotting beads on leather cord. (Notice a theme?)

Patina Leaf Pendants

And finally I took the Art Bead Scene's monthly challenge. You can see all three pieces that I made here and read about the art beads featured.

Falling Leaves Disk Beads

My Etsy shop is filled with new beads from Bead Fest, be sure to stop by and see if something catches your attention.

Lots of new adventures on the horizon, including moving into a new house with a bigger studio. Yeah! It's only about 10 minutes away, but a move is a move.  Boo! Hmm, I need to hire someone that could pack, they would know exactly how to organize my random junk and could weed out all the things we don't really need. Oh wait, that's like a fairy godmother, not a mover.  Well, that would work too!

My fall is crazy with creative goodness:
HumbleHoliday - Pet ornaments, decor and holiday cards coming soon.
Polymer Clay Cane Design Bootcamp - starting this week!
Inspired by Nature Fall Retreat - I have two openings due to a cancellation.
Baltimore Bead Society Workshop and Presentation in November. Details soon.